{Kindergarten here we come!}

On May 27th, my sweet Alexis turned 5-years-old! I seriously can't believe it's already been 5 years! She has grown up so much. Just 2 days after her birthday, she finished preschool, and is now getting ready for kindergarten in the Fall. She did so great in preschool and loved it. I hope that she will do just as well in kindergarten. Some things to remember about my Alexis at 5-years-old....

-Today she officially started riding her big girl bike...no training wheels!
-She still continues to LOVE horses! They are her favorite animal, but she loves ALL animals.
-She is the sweetest and most tender little soul. She is always concerned about what's going on with other people, and will cry at the drop of a hat.
-She is a very sweet big sister to Carter, even though he is constantly being a little bully to her ...pushing, biting, scratching her, pushing her buttons.
-She loves to color and draw and is getting a lot better at it. She loves to draw people, princesses, and houses.
-She knows all of her alphabet, and all of the sounds they make. She is starting to put small words together and sound words out.
-She can count to 100 with just a little help.
-She and Carter LOVE to pretend like they are dogs. They run around the house, and make pretend dog houses, and pretend that they are in the pound. It's pretty adorable.
-She also loves to play house and pretends that she is the mom of the house. No doubt in my mind that she will make a great mom one day!
-She loves to sing and is constantly making up her own songs.
-She loves technology...probably a little too much. She loves to watch shows, play on the computer and most of all, play on the iPad.
-She is getting better at saying the prayer at meals, and prays for the cutest things. She always prays that we can "have a super fun day!"
-She loves nail polish, and lip gloss, and everything girly.
-She loves her stuffed animals. She sleeps with a different one every night. Her favorites are a small white and black kitten, named Trixie, and a small white poodle, named Sparkles.

I am still amazed her sweetness and innocence. She is just amazed by so many things. It really doesn't take much to make this sweet girl happy. She is so smart, and so sweet. I just love her so much. I can't believe she's going to be starting kindergarten in a few months! I'm just so proud of her, and so proud to be her mommy.

terrible {and adorable} TWO

On April 6th, Carter turned 2-years-old! He is still just the cutest little boy that has ever existed on this planet. I think he had a pretty good birthday. We gave him a Little Tikes Cozy Truck, that he can climb into and play in. He LOVED it! He seriously played in it ALL day today. He also got a few Little People things from my mom and from Kim...a little dump truck, and an airplane. I attempted to make chocolate cupcakes from scratch, and, of course, they turned out like crap. Then I made peanut butter frosting to put on them, and it was REALLY rich. Carter didn't even eat his whole cupcake, so that's definitely not saying much.
I know he loved his truck today, but I think he was kindof just in a bad mood. He has been in a bad mood a lot lately. I don't know if it's because he's just been sick forever, or if it's because he's still working on getting those back molars, but whatever it is, I'm just getting pretty sick of it. He's barely eating anything, and he refuses to even look at the camera for me to take a picture of him and it's like he hardly smiles and just whines all day. I feel like the poor little guy is depressed! It makes me feel sad. I seriously have no idea what's going on with him. I wish he would just be happy. He was eating pretty good a few weeks ago too, and now he's being so picky and crazy about food. He just always wants to get down for his high chair, after he's taken like 3 bites.
Although he's being absolutely crazy lately, he is still always filled with loves for me. He is definitely a mama's boy. He gives me kisses, and hugs and snuggles, and basically wants me to hold him all day. This can be a good thing and a bad thing.
At 2-years-old Carter....

-Loves his sister, and SOMETIMES they play so cute together, but they can barely play with each other without fighting screaming, biting, and gnashing of teeth.
-He is really starting to talk more. He tries to say anything that we say. He can say "baby", "ruck" (truck), "eat", "milk", "puppy", "wuv oo" (love you), "tank shoo" (thank you), "auri" (sorry), "dada", "mommy", "didter" (sister), "up", "yesh" (yes), "owie", "uh-oh", "show", "more pease" (please), "poopoo", "ball", "book", "mamma" (grandma), "papa" (grandpa), "bopple" (bottle), "potty", "baff" (bath), "tick" (stick), "bike", "mine!", "NO", "baa oon" (balloon), "treat", "cheese", "shoes" ....those are a lot of the words that you can actually understand. He tries to say many more words, that probably Adrian and I are the only ones that actually understand what he's saying. It's so cute. I really love this stage when they really start to talk. He seriously has the cutest little voice!
-He knows his animals, and can imitate many of their sounds
-He likes to watch shows, and will constantly take one off of the shelf and bring it over to me if he wants to watch it. Right now he really likes to watch "Tangled."
-He LOVES to help me in the kitchen. Whenever I start cooking anything, he runs into the kitchen and starts pushing a chair over to the counter, so he can stand on it and "help" me.
-He loves to be outside, and while out there, his favorite thing to play with is sticks.
-He still loves to growl and make crazy noises.
-He can be very aggressive, and is constantly hitting and biting. The biting has slowed down, but he hits when he gets excited. Makes no sense.
-Just recently he saw me holding another baby, and now he always says "baby" and wants me to hold him laying in my arms like a baby.
-He likes to watch "Curious George"
-He and Alexis LOVE to play "puppy", where they crawl around and bark, and act like dogs.
-He likes to sit on Adrian's lap and slap his face.
-He loves to climb on EVERYTHING, especially up onto the arm of the couch, so he can look out the window.
-He has the strangest obsession with trying to fit into really small spaces...backpacks for example. Silly.
-He loves baths, and loves to splash like crazy.
-He loves to be naked.
-He likes to read stories.
-He loves play-doh, and loves to cut things and tear them apart
-He LOVES Adrian's power tools
-He probably survives mostly on bread. If we have any sort of bread with a meal, he will usually eat that, and barely eat anything else on his plate.
-He sleeps through the night really well, but will only take about an hour and a half nap every day. Sometimes less.

To sum it, Carter is one crazy, fun, adorable, sweet, loving little boy. I am beyond grateful to have him as my son. Although his recent crazy behavior is driving me nuts, I just can't get enough of him. He still has the most adorable, kissable cheeks ever, and I can't keep my lips off of them all day. I'm so glad he still likes to let me snuggle him. He is truly a little angel.

{capital reef}

So as I said in the last post, all of Adrian's siblings (except one), and his parents were all down in central/southern Utah for a little sibling family reunion. On the last day, we all headed out to Capital Reef National Park to explore the sites. Other than me not packing the right shoes AT ALL, we had a great...and very HOT time!

Alexis and her cousin Alana

 We saw a lot of really cool markings on the rocks left by the Fremont Indians hundreds of years ago. 

Then we went on a hike. This is where the shoes weren't so smart. We thought it was just going to be a pretty small hike, but it ended up being a least a few miles. Adrian and I took turns carrying Carter on our shoulders almost the entire way. Even Alexis got carried a lot of the way, because she was complaining that she was tired. Can't say I blame her. It was hot and her shoes were a little too big. She did a great job considering how ill-prepared we were! It was a beautiful hike though, and it was really cool to see some of the things left by the Native Americans so long ago. 

 WE MADE IT! These shots were taken at the "end" of the hike. We made it all the way up to this beautiful arch! ...and then, of course, we had to hike back down. :)

 Here's a shot of almost the entire group!

 Our little family...and LOOK, Carter is actually smiling for the camera! ...Amazing!

 Adrian's brother Nick and his family

We had a good time on our trip and it was definitely a fun adventure! Carter and Alexis even slept really well while we were gone, which was a miracle!

{family reunion}

This year Adrian's youngest sister decided she wanted to have a little reunion with all of their siblings, down where she lives. She lives in a small little town and they don't get many visitors, so she was excited to have everyone come down and spend time together.

 Tonya, Adrian's sister, rented out the community center where she lives and we ate there, and played games there. It was nice to have the building to play in, because it actually ended up being a really rainy, stormy day. We had fun doing crafts, and just visiting with each other.

 Adrian and Tonya's husband, Matt, went and did a little fishing in the morning. Can anyone say "sunburn"? :)

Then on the last day down there, we all piled into our cars to go adventuring in Capital Reef National Park.

{pioneer day}

Alexis may have gotten to go to the parade on the 4th with her dad, but unfortunately Adrian had to work on the 24th. The kids and I decided to go ahead and go to the parade anyway, and I'm glad we did! We had to fight some crowds, but we had a good time. It's so fun to see the kids reactions to all of the floats, especially Carter's...I don't think he knew what to think! Alexis just thought everyone looked so great and clapped and cheered for almost every float.

Fun at the parade!

 Cheeser! 

 In the parade our stake did a presentation about the 2000 stripling warriors. They actually assembled 2000 young men to represent what it would have looked like...with outfits and staffs and everything. It was pretty cool seeing that many young men gathered together representing such an important event. 

{a little random July}

 Happy. Handsome. Boy.

 My first attempt at rustic, crusty bread. Turned out so pretty!...and pretty delicious too!

 7.11.12  ...FREE SLURPEE DAY!

 Daddy doggy pile...one of their favorite things to do!

 

So Alexis found my triple barrel curling iron in the closet one day and has REALLY been wanting to me to do her hair with it. So one Sunday I went ahead and did it. It took FOREVER! She absolutely loved it though, and just thought that she was the prettiest girl around (because she was!). My friend that is in primary told me later that day that Alexis kept looking over her shoulder at her and flipping her hair, just waiting for my friend to tell her how pretty her hair looked. She is so silly and such a girly little girl. I don't think we'll ever do her hair like this again, because of how long it took, but she sure looked adorable!